Officer Enjoys Helping People

COOPER CITY — Officer of the Year George Scheyer could have been a high school teacher, but instead he`s a police officer.

Scheyer has a bachelor`s degree in education from the University of Miami in social studies, but besides internships, he never worked in a classroom.

``Police work can be very complex,`` he said. ``There`s no real one reason why you go into police work and stay in it.``

Scheyer was selected as Officer of the Year in 1984 for his work as a patrol officer and as officer in charge when none of the city`s four sergeants were on duty, according to a memorandum from Public Safety Director Robert Senk.

Scheyer has been with the department since since 1980, coming to the department after working with the state, and working for several other police departments since 1972, he said.

``Helping out people and the community,`` is the biggest part of law enforcement work he enjoys, Scheyer said.

Scheyer, 42, intends to work at the Cooper City Police Department until he retires, he said.

``It`s close to where I live, and it`s a growing area,`` he said. ``The department itself, when it comes to paying benefits, is in the top one-third of Broward County. The work atmosphere here is a lot better than anywhere else, and it`s going to be an up and coming city in the future.``

Besides the pay and benefits, there are other elements that make the Cooper City Police Department a desirable place to work, he said.

``You have a progressive city manager, you have a progressive thinking chief, and when you have progressive administrators, along with the support, it passes on down to employees,`` he said. ``I don`t know about other police departments, but they want better trained police officers here. It makes for a more professional police department.``

Scheyer has become the city`s second detective since February. Unlike other departments, the two detectives in Cooper City have to file the cases, such as traffic homicides, and photograph crime scenes.

``It can get pretty busy,`` Scheyer said. ``It`s not busy all at times, but when we are busy, we are busy.``

Scheyer received a plaque and $100 from the Cooper City Civic Association for his honor as officer of the year.